Different
by EmilyHarmonia
Summary: A one-shot delving into Trip's past, his formerly violent nature, and how he met Virus. Kind of sad but also gets kind of fluffy.


**So…I don't know, I just felt like doing a fic that went into the past. I was originally going to do one with younger Noiz but suddenly just liked the idea of one with Trip better. It was also originally going to be short but it turned into this backstory that goes from dark to fluffy at some point. Changing gradually like that is kind of a writing quirk of mine.**

**So I got this all done in one night because I was having trouble with another fic I'm already working on. I still hope I did ok, though. Enjoy the… Trip. (Haaaah pun so lame I didn't even realize it was even a pun until I'd already made it)**

**UPDATE: I changed the part where Trip first sees Virus because I thought I could make it just a little more realistic. Ok, that's all.**

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><p>Looking back, he could hardly remember anything. The vague, shaken images in his mind of him being scooped up out of nowhere on that dark street, fighting, kicking, hitting, all to no avail, those memories were barely real to him anymore. It was sort of like a faded nightmare that wasn't scary, or horrible anymore. It just was. He did remember that he'd only screamed once, giving up and not screaming again when nobody heard him. He was knocked unconscious sometime before he was taken in.<p>

He remembered the people. All the same. He hated them. Ever since he'd been there. He'd hated them.

The beings surrounding him didn't look or seem like him. They were different. Too different.

They bothered him so much.

They were so annoying, and Trip wasn't going to take time to figure out why. All he knew was that they were all over the large, white maze of a place that belonged to that strange man in the suit.

People, blurred figures, voices. Strange faces animating in broken movement to form words. To Trip it was all just white noise. He couldn't remember the last time he'd used his words, if ever. He mostly stayed silent, but sometimes it would all come out. When it did, he didn't know what to do, it would just hit him and he would fall, fall to his knees and scream for a reason he never understood.

Their voices. He hated them. The sudden sounds, touches, of people approaching him and speaking to him were like hell, grating on his mind and sending him into a frenzy, almost as though he were a caged animal. He'd whirl around fast, so fast that his head hurt, and swing a fist or an open palm at them. Sometimes the blow would clip messily by them; other times he would grasp tightly onto them with both hands, practically pulling at them with all his weight, digging his nails into their sleeves and watching as their faces contorted in shock, then pain. Sometimes Trip would just grab on and scream, because he didn't understand anything, he didn't understand these people, the way they stared at him oddly, coldly. Even just a look would drive Trip to attack on occasion. He didn't like their faces, always either glaring in disapproval or crying out in indignation or surprise or pain. Those who smiled, if there were any, Trip never knew them. He didn't know what smiles were. He didn't want to see them. It was as though every being was blurred to him, darkened with expressions muddled into something that only sparked panic and rage in him. Muddled and blurred into dirty nothings…

Like mud. That's what they looked like. Puddles of mud.

He never wanted to be near them.

Trip liked lions. He didn't have a reason why, he never had a reason why for anything. He just did. Maybe he could relate to them. Maybe it was their fierce personalities, and that, like him, lions didn't see people as people. Still, Trip never understood why, unlike him, the lions chose to stand up for a pack, risking their life for others and allowing themselves to lead, to be relied on. He didn't get it. It wasn't like him. It wasn't right.

Trip decided he didn't understand much. Not that he cared.

He would pass through the halls often, staring emptily at the blurred figures who walked by him like he was invisible. He didn't care as long as they didn't get close to him.

Passing a cluster of people, Trip had planned to wander aimlessly, as he usually did, until he found a doorway that seemed interesting. Then, like always, he would step into the room to see if it was empty. If it was, he would hide in there and sit. He would sit and think of lions, or try to remember what life was before here. On the flip side, if it had people, he would leave, or hit them if they tried to talk to him.

Looking ahead of him again, Trip turned to make his way to one of the random stairwells he'd seen, only to be run into by a second crowd of people in lab coats. He didn't want to bother weaving through them, so he just stopped and glared at them, not caring that they didn't notice him.

He stopped for a moment when he thought he'd seen a smaller body somewhere in the bunch of scientists. Eyes wandering down from the others' faces, he tried to see if he was correct. He..._couldn't_ have been, when what he saw had looked so different from before.

Whom he saw was a boy, one who looked slightly older than him with light hair and deep-colored eyes. Unlike the odd people he saw before, this boy was clean, neat, wearing the same clothes as him, didn't even try to approach Trip. He also noted that this person hugged a book to his chest and was completely silent, only looking around the room. As strange as it was, no matter how much he didn't seem like Trip, he…he'd instantly seemed as though he was pure white in the muddled world of people that disgusted him.

The boy suddenly settled his eyes on Trip. But…he didn't feel his usual anger at the eye contact, or anything at all. He wasn't going to hit him. He was…

Suddenly the older boy's arm was grabbed by one of the lab coat people in the crowd, and Trip frowned as the former was turned and led away.

Then to his surprise, the boy looked back, lifted his hand and waved, staring curiously at Trip as the corners of his mouth turned upward a little. "Hi."

Trip only blinked, watching as the boy of pure white was led into the crowd of blurred gray.

He started to follow him every time he saw him after that. It was almost like a ritual. Every time he met him in the hall, he would stop his venture and follow his lead. After some time Trip even started going out of his way just to find the boy. They didn't even know each other's_ names_, but neither one said a word. Trip simply walked at his heels insistently like a silent puppy, ignoring the curious stares from the older boy at first and then noticing as they slowly faded.

He was almost something Trip could cling to. He didn't wish to befriend him, no - he seemed like the only person who wouldn't deceive Trip in a dark and ugly world. The only person he didn't hate in this place of monsters.

So he kept following him.

The weeks went on, and Trip started to fight less and less because it seemed as though less and less of those annoying, dirty people were coming to see him.

Eventually, those residing in Oval Tower had grown smarter, learning to avoid Trip altogether. He was just a kid, an anti-social kid with anger issues, so what did it matter? As long as he could be kept under restraint long enough to, along with that other child Virus, fulfill Toue's purpose for them as subjects in his latest experiment, nothing else mattered.

Once he stopped fighting, he was called out to the hallway, told to follow the person in front of him, led down the corridor, and brought into a room of nothing but white, with little more than a single black lion plush, two very small beds, and two chairs at a table with books on it filling the space.

Trip's eyes wandered around, slowly settling on the person at one of the chairs.

The boy of pure white.

"Trip."

He made eye contact with the boy as the person above him spoke. "This is Virus."

He heard the clearing of a throat above him, saw the boy - Virus - wave and smile slightly, and was spoken to again. "You'll both be staying in here for a while."

He was gently nudged further in, but oddly enough, he didn't feel the intense urge to turn around and hit the person who'd touched him.

"Good luck."

The door closed behind him, and Trip only started to wonder what those last words were meant by.

Virus looked back at him. "Hi, Trip."

Trip silently nodded in reply, walking past him and plopping down next to the lion plush. He picked the toy up and inspected it before hugging it tight to his chest.

"You like lions, right?"

He looked up at Virus at those words.

"They told me you liked them, so I got to pick out a plush for you because they said you'd be staying in this room."

Trip blinked. Who told him he…

"I even made sure ours would match. Here, look." Virus took something off of his lap and held it up so the younger could see. "It's a snake. See? My snake and your lion, look, they're both black with blue eyes. That's kind of cool, right?"

Trip said nothing, still staring at the toy Virus was showing him.

Suddenly, the boy reached out and grabbed at the plush. Virus didn't resist, allowing Trip to hold the plush reptile and inspect it like he did the last one.

"So, I guess we'll be staying here together."

Trip nodded absently, now playing with both plushes and making them play-fight.

"I wonder what Mr. Toue's plans are for us…"

Trip froze, staring back up at Virus in confusion. He had an oddly knowing expression, and Trip wasn't sure what to think anymore.

"Oh. Do you know Toue?"

Trip shook his head, and Virus took only a moment to note that the kid probably never spoke. He didn't blame him, being in such a strange place at such a young age. Virus didn't speak much in the beginning, either.

"He's the man who owns this place. You might've seen him before. He's tall with dark hair, and gloves, and a monocle, and a suit."

Trip nodded again, feeling the bile rise up a little in his throat when he realized who Virus was talking about.

Virus watched the younger's expression sour before Trip went back to playing with the toys. He swallowed hard, and tried speaking again. "How old are you?"

Once again, Trip looked at him.

"I'm 12, by the way."

Blank stare.

"Can you show me on your fingers, at least?"

Trip was unresponsive for a moment, but at last, Virus could see he was steadily holding up six fingers.

"Oh, you're six, then?"

Trip nodded.

Virus nodded back. "Oh." He turned around to face his stack of books. "Uh, would you like to read one of these?"

Trip looked at the books before he realized one was already being presented to him. Curious, the boy flipped through the pages before unhappily deciding that all the jumbled letters didn't make sense and handing it back.

The elder saw the grimace form at the sight of the unfamiliar words, chuckled and took the book back. "Well, Trip, if you don't know how to read, do you want me to teach you?"

He cocked his head, confused.

"Come on, I can help you right now if you'd like."

He took his time carefully selecting a book to start with before moving over to the spot next to Trip. "Here. How about this one?"

Trip only nodded again, still curious.

He really didn't mind Virus.

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><p>One day, only a few months after, Virus and Trip were sitting at the table, not talking, not doing much of anything. They did this often when they ran out of things to do, and for some reason, they were both perfectly content.<p>

Trip was gently stroking the plush lion in his lap - which he had named Welter - when in his peripheral vision he saw Virus lift his head, becoming slightly aware of the older boy looking like he wanted to say something. As he thought, only a moment passed before Virus spoke up.

"Why did you follow me?"

Trip looked up next, staring solemnly at the boy.

Virus held his gaze. "Trip...it's just…how come you chose to start following me around like you did a while back? ...Um, I'm just wondering why."

There was only silence, but in his mind Trip felt like Virus had a right to know his answer.

Then he felt his lips parting, sucking in a breath, he could feel his voice rise in his throat, and yet he didn't feel at all like screaming like before, when his voice would rise. All he felt was a bland sense of calm. He felt so oddly _natural_ like this, trying to get his voice to work after not being used, since everyone simply started avoiding him.

For the first time that he could remember, Trip spoke.

"I just wanted to."

The older boy's ocean blue eyes blinked in surprise at the sound of words from the younger, his face wearing the same expression. It wasn't the kind of dismay that Trip had seen from the people around Toue's. No. This was…it didn't annoy him. He didn't hate it, but he also didn't like it. It'd always been like that with Virus.

So he only stared back.

"So...you... You followed me around everywhere because you wanted to?"

Trip felt his voice coming again, this time a little easier. "Yes."

Virus sat up straight, then adjusted his glasses. "Oh."

Trip furrowed his eyebrows. "Hm?"

"N-nothing, really, it's just…" Virus scratched the back of his neck. "…I guess I should've been expecting that answer. It seems like you."

Trip blinked in confusion. "It seems…like…me…?"

Virus smiled a little at this. "Yeah. You seem like someone who would I guess just do things, without rhyme or reason, because it was your impulse to do it. That's not a bad thing about you, Trip. It's part of you. Nothing good, nothing bad. It's you."

"Oh."

Trip looked up. "Hey, Virus?"

"Hm?"

Trip reached across the table, clumsily patting the tops of the older child's light hair. "I think I want blonde hair, too."

Virus laughed. "Is that so?"

Trip nodded solemnly. "And when we get a _real_ lion and snake I want them to look the same, too."

"Really?"

Trip held up Welter. "Yeah. Welter and…"

"_Hersha_."

"…They'll be like us."

Virus nodded, amused. "Sounds like quite a plan."

"It is."

"You know what, Trip?"

"What?"

"I think you'd make a pretty cool lion."

Trip only grumbled softly at Virus' laughter, but he soon felt a gradual pulling at the corners of his mouth, eyes widening in realization, surprise and gratitude as he smiled for the first time.

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><p><strong>I think it did get kind of fluffy. Still, I like it and put a few pretty long hours into it, so I'm not gonna change it :3<strong>

**Ah, it went ok. Little Virus and Trip are so cute ^u^**

**...Review if you want to!~**


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